Marconi AXBT Microphone & matching desk stand

Marconi AXBT microphone Type A, manufactured by Marconi, c. 1944. BBC ribbon microphone with stand.

The Marconi ribbon microphone was first made in 1934 in Britain, and used by the BBC until 1959.

The tiny pressure changes, caused by the aluminium ribbon which is less than a thousandth of a millimetre thick, vibrate between the poles of a large magnet. These generate currents which mimic the sound wave. A radio microphone is a transducer, which is a device that translates voltages and currents into sounds, lights or forces.